By Lateef Adegbite
For the past three years, the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, under he Leadership of Bashir Jamoh, OFR, has been deeply involved in cleaning up oil spills in the Niger Delta region. Oil spill, according to the Dictionary meaning is ‘’ an accidental release of oil into the body of the water, as from a tanker, offshore drilling rig or underwater pipeline, often representing a hazard to marine life and he environment.
Nigeria has faced legal challenges over oil spills at the Nigerian Delta region , which had mostly been attributed sabotage and vandalism of pipelines and illegal refining. The Italia Eni oil Company, subsidiary, Nigerian Agip Oil Company, NAOC, had said that least the North American country of the United States, US, $12 billion would be needed to clean up oil spills in southern Bayelsa alone n a 12 year period.
Indeed, given the November 15, 2023, oil spills at Egina field in Bayelsa sate, which is located in approximately 600 meters of water and is 150 Km off the coast of Nigeria, may have encouraged JAamoh, Director General of NIMASA, described as a workaholic I maritime circles and his Management Team to set up a monitoring group on the oil spills incident which was said to have occurred during loading operations in the Egina loading bay. A source confirmed that the egna field development consists of a floating Production Storage and Offloading, FPSO, facility unit and a Subsea production sysem.
It was said o have been initially discovered in 2003, with peak production of 200,000b/d in 2019. A source in NAOC, informed The Magazine that the Egina field is the second development in oil production in the Oil Producing and Petroleum Exporting countries, OPEC, on the Oil Mining Lease , oml, 130, following the Akpo field which was said to have started in 2009 as revealed by Yuan Guangyu, the CEO, OF NOOC limited. CNOOC, a wholly owned subsidiary of NOOC limited, according to Yuan, holds 45% , participating shares of OML 130 Oil block , in partnership with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, now baptised Nigerian Petroleum Company, NPCL, with the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill , PIB, by the National Assembly and signed into Law by former President Muhammadu Buhari, in August, 2021.
There are indications that Total Nigeria Limited holds 24% I equity shares in the Company, and is the operator while Petrobras Oil and Gas BV, holds 16% interest and South Atlantic Petroleum -SAPETRO holds 15% in the oil producing Company.
A Stament by Edward Osagie, Assistant Director and Head of the agency Public Relations had said that it is not doing it alone but working loosely with the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency, NOSDRA, and the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, NUPRC , from the crisis Management Room , CMR, where the spills is currently being monitored real time using oil monitoring software from the Emergency Response Centre. NIMASA and NOSDRA, could synergise to control the Egina oil spills because the two agencies had signed a Memorandum of Understanding on April 24, 2019, during the Administration of Dakuku Peterside on marine oil spill management. The objective of the MOU, an inside informed The Value News was‘’to strengthen cooperation with proactive and calculated response to marine oil spill in Nigeria’’.
The NIMASA spokesperson, may have kept Nigerians waiting in a tight corner whether to believe to believe that the Egina oil spills really took place or not. He had said that ‘’it is not yet confirmed that the Egina spills occurred but that Total Energies is helping out in providing aerial surveillance , dispersant application, noting that further mobilization is being considered as well.
He had said that the United Kingdom, UK, based Oil Spills Response Limited is also assisting with pollution control measures in the area. He was said to have disclosed that ‘’Reconnaissance Survey of the affected area confims that the shoreline Communties of Andoni, in Bayelsa state, Qua Iboe terminals, Akwa Ibom state and Bonny Iland, , Oobo/NKoro and Estern Obolo, all Communities in Rivers state which are he closest to the Egina oil field are not yet affected by he pills.
, NOS Jamoh, the NIMASA, Chief Executive Officer, may have gladdened the heart of Nigerians when he disclosed that the agency is also working closely with industry stakeholders to control the pollution that may crop up as t a result of the oil spills incident and put the necessary measures in place to prevent such occurrences in the future, in line with the provisions of the International Convention for the Convention of Pollution from Ships, regarded as the MARPOL Convention of the International Maritime Organisation, IMO, a United Nations, UN, maritime agency.
The NIMASA CEO, had revealed that since the Egina oil spills incident occurred on November 15, 2023, the agency staff have been liaising with other organs of government at the Federal level, ‘’to ensure that the pollution is effectively controlled and managed to protect the marine environment and Communities close to the location of the oil spills.
He noted that oil spillages do happen at the Niger Delta region, but it’s what happen thereafter after the pills that matters. It was not no surprising why he had said that the agency collaboration with NOSDRA, NUPRC and International service providers that will surely ensure proper management of the current oil spills recorded in Egina .
Recall that last August, the Maritime Regulatory agency in a bid to reduce the number of casualties at the collapsed ‘’rig majestyc ‘’, belonging to Deepsize Nigeria Limited by rented y Seplat Petroleum had sent a Search and Rescue team to the incident scene.
The ilfated Panama Flagged rig, was said to have been operating in Nigerian waters since 2016 without the requisite approvals from the agency as enshirine in the NIMASA Act of 2007. The Seplat rented Majestic rig was said to have capsized at Ovhor in Warri, Delta state , killing a Britons and some Nigerians working on the rig.
